Portugieser Tourbillon Hand-Wound "Metropolitan Boutique Edition"

Reference 5463

Highlights

Portugieser Tourbillon Hand-Wound

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reference 5463

The flying minute tourbillon puts on a show no one can resist. The IWC-manufactured movement is firmly in the tradition of the 98 calibre, first designed for pocket watches in the 1930s and continuously improved ever since. The arched-edge front glass and the Santoni strap give the watch a more classical and balanced appearance.

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Mood

The elegance of the Portuguese Tourbillon Hand-Wound perfectly complements life aboard a luxury yacht

Variations

A dial to match the case: slate-coloured for the white gold version and silver-coloured for the model with the 18-carat red gold case

Back

The IWC-manufactured 98900 calibre with its intricately decorated, nickel-plated three-quarter bridge made of nickel silver

Tourbillon

The flying minute tourbillon is a mechanical tour de force that attracts admiring glances from watch connoisseurs

TOURBILLON: A TOUR DE FORCE

In the Portuguese Tourbillon Hand-Wound, the “whirlwind” – as the word tourbillon translates – revolves on its axis at “9 o’clock” on the dial; or, in nautical terms, at 270 degrees west. The sight of the mechanical, cantilever-mounted minute tourbillon invariably attracts rapt attention from watch lovers. The tourbillon rotates around its own axis once every 60 seconds to counteract the pull of gravity on any disequilibrium in the balance wheel that would adversely affect the watch’s rate and accuracy. The arched-edge front glass gives the watch a more classical and balanced appearance and optically reduces its height. The dial was chosen to match the case: slate-coloured for the white gold version and silver-plated for the model in 18-carat red gold. The IWC-manufactured 98900-calibre movement with its intricately decorated nickel-silver three-quarter bridge can be admired through the transparent sapphire-glass back. It belongs in the long tradition of the 98 calibre, which was first designed for hunter pocket watches in the 1930s and has since been continuously improved. For this model, IWC’s engineers increased the balance frequency to 28,800 beats per hour, which guarantees excellent precision. The Portuguese Tourbillon Hand-Wound comes with a dark brown Santoni alligator leather strap.

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Tourbillon

The tourbillon – or, as it literally translates, the “whirlwind” – has long been considered the ultimate achievement in mechanical watchmaking. Originally, this most exclusive of all watch complications was intended to offset the gravitational error inevitable in an oscillating system with a balance and spring by distributing the error evenly over a single plane. The solution: to put the balance, pallets and escape wheel in a tiny cage that would then rotate around its own axis once every minute. The construction of this mechanism represents an enormous challenge, and results in a filigree work of art consisting of 82 parts. In the Portuguese Tourbillon Mystère Rétrograde, the tourbillon at “12 o’clock” appears to come alive and is the focal point of the entire dial.